For Love of Math
by Taura Callisto
Summary: To Charlie, math is his life, how does he explain to Alan and Don that he thinks that means that he'll be an old bacholer. Sorry Alan, no grandkids. One shot.


Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own anything Numb3rs related.

For Love of Math

Charlie Eppes rolled his eyes and gave an inwardly sigh as his father once again started hinting toward his want of grandchildren. Both he and his brother gave identical groans at the never ending delight their father got from discussing it. Finally Charlie had had enough, it was something he had been thinking about and he decided to share his thoughts toward the subject.

"You know dad, I really think you should give up any hope that you'll get grandkids from me" Charlie told his dad in-between bites of his dinner.

"Oh? And why is that Charlie?" Alan replied, his eyebrows raised in interest.

"Yeah let's hear this explanation" Don smirked; he and his brother were forever trying to think of ways to dissuade their dad from the topic.

"Ok" Charlie nodded. "It really comes back down to a conversation I had with Larry last year. I won't go in-depth about our conversation, but suffice to say that our work keeps us very busy. It made me realize that I have a better chance of winning the Nobel Prize for Math than I do of every getting married."

Alan looked at Charlie slightly perplexed. "Charlie, there is no Nobel Prize in math."

"My point exactly. I see no chance of me every finding a woman who will put up with my obsessive tendencies towards math and even if I did, it really wouldn't be fair of me to do that to someone. She'd be by herself all the time." Charlie paused to let that sink in. "The way I see it, I'll probably still be single when I'm sixty-five and I'll be happily content just standing in front of my chalk board writing endless equations."

Both his father and brother were frowning by now, slightly saddened at the prospect of Charlie never finding that special someone. Alan even more sad by the fact that Charlie seemed to accept what he said as absolute fact.

Feeling the slight tension in the room, Charlie quickly added, "So of course you realize dad, that you will better your chances of having grandchildren if you focus all your attention on Don. One-hundred percent in better than fifty percent, right dad?" Charlie grinned at the look on Don's face.

"Whoa now, I don't think so. He's lying dad, you just keep on dividing your attention _equally _between us." Don said as he glared at Charlie across the table. He couldn't imagine his father solely looking to him for grandchildren.

Alan just smiled and looked at both his boys. "Of course son, of course."

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Don sighed and got up from his reclined position on the couch. What Charlie had said earlier was still on his mind and for some reason it was really bugging him. He made a quick stop at the fridge to grab another beer before making his way towards the garage where Charlie was currently, no surprise there.

Upon opening the door he heard the rhythmic sounds of chalk against blackboard and he stood there for a moment and simply watched the hypnotic movements of his brother's arm as it snaked its way across the board. A pause in the movement brought Don out of the trance and he walked up behind Charlie and tapped him on the shoulder.

Charlie tensed for a moment, having been caught unaware, before turning around and seeing his brother behind him.

"Don, what are you doing up this late?"

"I couldn't sleep, I thought that since you were still up I'd come see if you wanted to sit on the back porch with me and keep me company while I finish off my beer. Here I got one for you too" He held up his left hand to show that he did indeed have a beer for Charlie.

It took a moment for Charlie to clue in to what his brother was really wanting and as much as he hated stopping in the middle of a problem he knew his brother wouldn't have come out here unless it was important.

Charlie reached for the beer and nodded his thanks before letting Don lead the way to the two lounge chairs on the back porch.

They sat quietly for a few minutes, simply enjoying the night air, before Don cleared his throat and hesitantly looked over at Charlie.

"Charlie, about what you said at dinner… you didn't really mean that did you?" Don asked, his concern clearly visible on his face even in the dim lighting.

Charlie was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts; once they were in order he raised his head to look over at Don.

"Yeah Don, I did. I really don't see myself ever getting married and settling down. My work consumes too much of my time and I don't think my mind will ever slow down enough for me to enjoy that kind of life. It's like Einstein once said 'one has either has time for science or family, but not both' and I feel that is a true reflection of my life."

"That's a sad way to live though, don't you think?"

"I suppose. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I haven't thought about it, I mean, I am a guy and I wouldn't mind having that companionship, but like I said earlier I don't think it would be fair for her. All the relationships I've had in the past more or less ended because I couldn't balance between it and the math. I think it would be better for everyone involved if I just stuck to math, it's easier that way and then I won't end up with a broken heart."

Don looked intently at his brother for a moment before averting his gaze to the empty beer bottle in his hands.

"Charlie, you can't just assume that you'll never find someone, maybe you're just looking in the wrong places. You can't just stop trying because you're afraid of getting your heart broken, sometimes it happens and you just have to learn from it and carry on."

Charlie sighed; he hadn't realized that his brother would be so concerned and Don was hardly ever this open. In a way it felt nice being able to share this kind of thing with his brother, but it also felt uncomfortable having to put his feelings out in the open like he was doing. He appreciated what Don was doing though and that made it a little easier. Of course, the beers had helped to loosen their tongues a bit and he suspected that was Don's intent all along.

He laid a hand on his brother's arm in a comforting gesture and smiled at Don when he looked up.

"I'll try bro, but no guarantees. I guess I can't expect you to handle all of dad's grandchild expectations. That might be considered cruel and unusual punishment" Charlie said with a smirk.

"Hell yeah it would be, of course you realize that I'm going to get you back for trying to unload your half of the responsibility on me, I'd watch my back if I were you." Don grinned evilly at his younger brother before breaking into laughter.

Charlie joined in as well, he knew from past experiences to take his brother's threat to heart but at the moment it felt good to laugh and he knew that he could handle anything the future dished out to him, evil brother revenge and relationships included.

The End.

Author's Note: Well I hope you like this story, I was watching my Numb3rs DVD, the episode 'Sacrifice' to be exact, and it was on the part where Larry and Charlie are sitting in the wake for that guy that was murdered and they were talking about how busy their lives were and it got me thinking about this story idea, I also directly quoted Charlie who was quoting Einstein, I thought that fit in well. I looked up the part about the Nobel Prize on the internet but I'm sure it was also in the show once, no idea what episode.

And for those of you who have read my other story 'The Call' I am considering adding another chapter or two, I guess if I look at the story from y'alls point of view I would be pissed and would want to know what happened to Charlie, so I hope anything I add won't disappoint you.

Taura Callisto


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